Thoughts from the interface of science, religion, law and culture

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

EVENTS

The Militarization of Law Enforcement Continues

Now that the Iraq war has ended and the Afghanistan war is winding down, the Pentagon has lots of surplus equipment and they’re ready to unload it on local police departments. Because every sheriff’s department should have IED-resistant armored personnel carriers with machine guns mounted on them.

Coming soon to your local sheriff: 18-ton, armor-protected military fighting vehicles with gun turrets and bulletproof glass that were once the U.S. answer to roadside bombs during the Iraq war.

The hulking vehicles, built for about $500,000 each at the height of the war, are among the biggest pieces of equipment that the Defense Department is giving to law enforcement agencies under a national military surplus program.

For police and sheriff’s departments, which have scooped up 165 of the mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, or MRAPS, since they became available this summer, the price and the ability to deliver shock and awe while serving warrants or dealing with hostage standoffs was just too good to pass up.

“It’s armored. It’s heavy. It’s intimidating. And it’s free,” said Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple, among five county sheriff’s departments and three other police agencies in New York that have taken delivery of an MRAP.

Notice the sheriff doesn’t even mention whether it’s useful or necessary. He doesn’t seem to care at all. It’s a shiny new toy and it looks really tough, so let’s get one! Even if they almost always go to departments with the least amount of serious crime:

An Associated Press investigation of the Defense Department military surplus program this year found that a disproportionate share of the $4.2 billion worth of property distributed since 1990 – everything from blankets to bayonets and Humvees – has been obtained by police and sheriff’s departments in rural areas with few officers and little crime.

After the initial 165 of the MRAP trucks were distributed this year, military officials say police have requests in for 731 more, but none are available.

Ohio State University campus police got one, saying they would use it in large-scale emergencies and to provide a police presence on football game days. Others went to police in High Springs, Fla., and the sheriff’s office in Dallas County, Texas.

This will be just like SWAT teams and all the other military-style units — once you’ve got it, you have to use it to justify having it, so you start using it to serve routine drug warrants and such. This is incredibly dangerous and corrosive.

In my own liberal, hippy-town of Eugene, Oregon, the police have used grenades, a full SWAT team, and an APC to smash in the door of a house they suspected of selling drugs, put guns to the heads of a terrified family, (who had no drugs at all, natch) and stole anything they thought might be “evidence.” This was in the middle of a densely-populated residential neighborhood when people were going to work. To this day, they still have not admitted any wrongdoing, and despite all charges being propped, they haven’t returned any of the “evidence” either. (Computers, books, family photos, etc. None of which indicates any trace of a grow operation)

timgueguen“At least those departments got stuff for free. Last year the Saskatoon Police Service spent 300 grand on an ‘armoured rescue vehicle.’ for the Emergency Response Team.”
To be fair, Saskatoon has one of the highest crime rates in Canada. I can’t count the numbers of times I heard the Mounties shout “Come oot with your hands up, please!” followed by a perp shout “Later! I’m still in line to get in to the Western Development Museum, eh!”

This demonstrates what a clear lie ‘serve and protect’ are when it comes to the police. They’re thugs with their own agenda who could give a shit about how the people under their jurisdiction care about their possession and use of military style hardware.

We need to seriously change the whole nature of the police force and how accountability with the public works.